Developers cause fury among locals after what they did on site near Fareham Community Hospital

Sarisbury Green residents expressed their anger after LNT Care Developments cleared land and removed the reptiles, despite not having planning permission.

LNT Care Developments submitted plans to Fareham Borough Council to build a 66-bedroom care home on land at Henry Road, Sarisbury Green formerly part of Fareham Community Hospital and owned by the NHS.

At a meeting on September 10, the council’s planning committee unanimously voted to defer the decision, until further consultation with Hampshire County Council Highways over traffic concerns. These include the impact of additional vehicles queuing on Coldeast Way during peak times and potential parking issues.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service was contacted by residents who said the developer entered the 0.76 hectares site the day after the meeting and began clearing it by 11.30am, to put up fencing.

Paul Lardner, from nearby Agincourt Drive, said: “We are very angry that the developer ignored the council’s decision to defer and started work on the open land without permission.”

Contractors reportedly cut down scrub, hedgerows and bushes to install a green cloth fence around the entire site and relocated slow worms using buckets.

According to residents, mats were laid across the site to attract the legless lizards that gather under them for warmth, making them easier to collect.

Hannah Farwell, from Gloucester Drive, said: “We cannot trust a company that is already breaking the rules. They say they want to work with residents, but there’s no reason to believe that.”

She added that it is very frustrating living opposite a large open area that will now be replaced by a three-storey building, one taller than the surrounding two-storey houses.

Fareham Borough Council confirmed it had been contacted by residents who reported that an ecologist was removing slow worms from the proposed development site.

A council spokesperson confirmed that the applicant has not committed a criminal offence under the Habitat Regulations by moving reptiles in the absence of planning permission.

The spokesperson said: “On 22 September, the council wrote to the applicant requiring that they immediately cease any activity relating to the capture and removal of slow worms.

“On the same day, council officers visited the site, where the applicant’s ecologist confirmed they would immediately stop removing slow worms.

“The removal was in preparation for development, should planning permission be granted.”

They added: “There was an acceptable mitigation strategy agreed with the council’s ecologist and the action was carried out by the applicant’s qualified ecologist. No evidence has been provided to date of slow worms being injured or killed during the translocation exercise.

“In the event there had been a breach of the Habitat Regulations, then this would have been a matter for the police to investigate as it would have been a criminal matter.’

The reptiles were relocated to a “habitarium” at Abbey Meadows in Titchfield.

Chair of the planning committee, Councillor David Foot (Con, Sarisbury and Whiteley), said the applicant acknowledges it has transgressed and has agreed a financial contribution towards the maintenance and ecological management of the slow worm habitat at Abbey Meadows.

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